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Sale Sharks Women to make history in Premiership Women's Rugby round 14

SALE, ENGLAND - JANUARY 28: Georgie Perris-Redding of Sale Sharks speaks to the players in a huddle after the team's defeat in the Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby match between Sale Sharks and Exeter Chiefs at Heywood Road on January 28, 2024 in Sale, England. (Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images for Sale Sharks)

Sale Sharks Women will make history this weekend in round 14 of Premiership Women’s Rugby when they play at Salford Stadium for the first time.

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They will face Trailfinders Women on Saturday 9th March in the historic fixture.

Sale Sharks currently sit at the bottom of the PWR table after a five-point deduction, while newcomers Trailfinders are seventh with 18 points.

Sale had a memorable start to the season when they beat Harlequins Women in round two, their only victory so far in this campaign.

Trailfinders have secured three wins so far in their maiden PWR season, beating fellow new joiners Leicester Tigers Women twice, and seeing off a narrow victory against Sale Sharks in their last encounter earlier in the season.

To mark the club’s celebrations for International Women’s Day and as a part of their wider Northern Rugby Matters campaign, they hope to celebrate women’s rugby in the north at the history-making match.

The Greater Manchester venue will also host matches during Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, alongside seven other locations across England throughout the tournament, finishing with the final at Twickenham Stadium.

Speaking about the momentous match against Trailfinders, Sale Sharks co-captain and USA Eagle Georgie Perris-Redding said:

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“It’s massive. As everyone knows, it’s historic for us and it’s something we’ve talked about and been in discussions about for a long time, so it’s super exciting.

“When it was announced to the girls, it brought a real buzz and we’re hoping it’s going to be not just a huge day for us, but for rugby in the north and in Manchester.

“Hopefully we can really drum up a crowd and get some fans behind us for that day.”

“When we are in these big occasions and we are the underdogs, I think that’s when the girls really come alive.

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“For us, Trailfinders is a target game. It’s something we’re really going to grasp at, and we’d like a big win.

“We can’t hide from it, we’ve had a really tough run. We have had a lot of open, honest conversations about where we’re at as a squad and what we can do to be better moving forward.

“We need to find out how to become that squad that people don’t want to play because they know they’re going to fight for 80 minutes.

“I think it’s sort of finding that DNA again, that northern grit.”

As the furthest-north team in the PWR, the club also raises awareness for rugby in the region through the Northern Rugby Matters campaign.

“We can’t stay away from the battle we have up here in the north, we’re chasing the south with the game,” Perris-Redding said.

“With the Northern Rugby Matters campaign, this game will help us shine a light on the potential this team has. Not just this team but the north, and how it can become a hub of rugby.

“It will be a launch pad that we can use to grow the game and also empower those that are already in it.”

World Cup winner Katy Daley-Mclean, who is Sale Sharks Women’s Head of Performance said: “The players are really excited to be playing at the Salford Stadium in front of what will hopefully be a great crowd. It’s a big opportunity for us to show off the women’s game to a new audience.

“We’re really building something special here and this is another big step in growing the game. We want as many women and girls involved in rugby clubs across the north to come to the Salford Stadium and enjoy what will be a real celebration of our sport.”

Round 14 of the PWR will also see defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury play Harlequins on 8th March before Sale Sharks face Trailfinders.

On the Saturday, Exeter Chiefs host Loughborough Lightning. On 10th March Bristol Bears will play Saracens in what is the final PWR fixture before the start of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations on 23rd March.

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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